Swedes demand Israel fix Gaza flotilla ship

A Swedish organization ‘Ship to Gaza’ said Monday it will demand Israeli authorities to repair a Gaza flotilla ship impounded since 2012, after Israel's Supreme Court ordered the ship’s release.

Ship to Gaza spokesman Dror Feiler told AFP that the Finnish-flagged Estelle was in Israel's northern port of Haifa, still afloat but unfit to put to sea.

"Last time we had a person who checked the boat, it was maybe one year or nine months ago, the condition of the boat was not good, to put it mildly," he said in English by phone from his home in Sweden.

"It's in salt water and we don't know the condition of the engine, we don't know the condition of the sails," he said. "We will demand that the boat will be put into seaworthy condition so we can sail."

Israeli-born activist Feiler was one of 11 Swedish nationals on the vessel when the Israeli navy commandeered it in 2012 as it neared the coast of the blockaded Gaza Strip.